Literacy Lane 

Art Statement

The Literacy Lane Mural Project is a community-designed street mural and learning space located at the former dead end of Bryant Street in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. The project was developed in partnership with Kalamazoo Literacy Council, local residents (including Edison Resident Scholars), and lead artist Maya James. Literacy Lane was created to transform an overlooked block into a welcoming place for reading, play, and connection. What was once an underused street became a shared public space that reflects neighborhood identity while encouraging learning through movement, color, and interaction and the largest ground mural in the state of Michigan.

The mural is organized into four color-coded sections that represent key areas of everyday life and learning:

• Blue – Work
  
  

• Yellow – Play
  
  

• Red – Art + Education
  
  

• Green – Nature and STEM
  
  

These sections guide visitors through the space and encourage play and discovery while reinforcing themes of creativity, literacy, and exploration. The mural includes over 50 visual elements designed to support vocabulary development and observation, alongside elements to improve the neighborhood, as an outdoor reading nook with solar power, foursquare, Little Free Libraries, and a reading corner. Together, these features turn the street itself into an outdoor learning environment. Community participation shaped every stage of the project, from design to execution.

Timeline & Process

• May 23, 2024 — First Community Workshop: Residents gathered at the site to share ideas, walk the space, contribute design input, and paint decorative rocks for the mural area. This workshop established the collaborative direction of the project.
  
  

• June–July 2024 — Site Preparation: Community volunteers helped clean the street, remove debris and weeds, and apply multiple coats of primer. This phase focused on preparing the surface and building collective ownership of the space.
  
  

• July–August 2024 — Painting & Open Workdays: Multiple public workdays invited neighbors of all ages to help outline and paint the mural. Participants contributed directly to color choices and design elements inspired by the neighborhood’s culture, environment, and energy.
  
  

• September 6, 2024 — Finishing Workday: Residents, volunteers, and staff came together to complete the main painting phase and celebrate the transformation of the street. The artist would continue her work until the end of the month, finally finishing before the cold of winter.
  
  

Since completion, Literacy Lane has continued to grow through additional community programming, library installations, a community art restoration initiative, and neighborhood events. More than a mural, Literacy Lane is a place-making project rooted in shared labor, creativity, and holistic care for the neighborhood. It demonstrates how public art can support literacy, strengthen neighborhood connections, and give residents a visible role in shaping their environment; turning a forgotten block into a space that belongs to everyone.

The map: LL Mural Map

The Artist: My name is Maya Sophia Ananda James, a multidisciplinary social practice multimedia artist, graphic novelist, author, writer, arts educator, journalist, recipient of the Vanguard Award in ArtPrize 2023, and the artist behind The Kalamazoo Literacy Council’s “Literacy Lane”, one of the the largest ground murals in Michigan and “We Got the Juice (In The Zoo)”, a mural on the Metro Station in Downtown Kalamazoo, sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo and the City of Kalamazoo. My work thrives in collaboration with communities and organizations serving undervalued groups, including but not limited to black women and black LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Art is the weapon of choice in my family against white supremacy. In 1955, the Snoddy family fled Texas in the dead of night, eventually settling in sunny Los Angeles. After our family was driven off our land and out of the state, my father found freedom within his dream to escape a lot of the evils of Jim Crow. Breaking barriers, my dad became the first in his family to attend college, earning a master's degree in Fine Arts and becoming one of the most prolific black artists of his time. While he resisted being categorized as a "black" artist, I embraced the responsibility of claiming our identity as "black" artists. It may be hard to understand to many people around the world why someone who looks like me might claim blackness as their identity, but my father was not the last in our family to experience racial violence in the backwoods of rural America. My nuance is that I am a byproduct of the unpleasant intersections that the children of our world sometimes represent or result from. My work is dedicated to portraying the resilience of black people and creating art that challenges harmful assumptions through untold stories essential for our future.

My career started in journalism while pursuing a Political Science degree when I was a teenager in college, the pivotal moment occurring at a Collegiate Associated Press Conference with my community college newspaper, where I pitched an idea to YR media despite their initial lack of interest. This led to my first work as a youth correspondent, mainly focusing on controversial subjects, race relations, and racist violence in northern Michigan. My writings were featured in the New York Times Race/Related Column, USA Today, USA Today College, and on the YR Media.

Responses to my literary work stimulated my decision to leave my predominantly white hometown which was a source of trauma that led me to pursue an art career centered around black femme identity. Becoming a full-time artist required significant sacrifice, especially because it was less traditional than my father's experiences in the '60s and '70s in his burgeoning art career. With the publication of "LUKUMI," I became the first black woman to participate in the National Arab American Museum Artist Residency at the City Hall ArtSpace Lofts, housed in the same city hall that once hosted the reign of segregationist Orville L. Hubbard. My artistic pursuits align with my commitment to community engagement and social justice. My work is based on strategic social practice initiatives such as “Come As You Are,” an upscale art auction celebrating black LGBTQIA+ leaders.

My dedication is to make a positive impact and support marginalized voices through both art and action. My writings were featured in the New York Times Race/Related Column, USA Today, USA Today College, and on the YR Media. My commitment to community engagement and social justice, such as social practice initiatives like “Come As You Are,” an art auction celebrating black LGBTQIA+ leaders and the installation “#nomorestolensistas”, recipient of the Vanguard Award in ArtPrize 2023. I currently write as a social practice correspondent for Second Wave Media, and I am the artist behind the Kalamazoo Literacy Council’s Literacy Lane, one of the largest ground murals in Michigan, and a playspace dedicated to literacy.  

Thank you, Kalamazoo! 

Thank you, Kalamazoo Literacy Council & the Edison Resident Scholars! 

Great work and we hope to see you soon at Literacy Lane <3